Intelligence Cycle

Intelligence Cycle

Introduction

It has been observed that the Department of Homeland Security assigned to the Office of Intelligence and Analysis has received a threat for some security reason and has to reconsider the phases of the intelligence system for the improvement of the security. The core focus of this paper is to identify and discuss the role and importance of each of the six phases in the intelligence system. The intelligence cycle helps to develop data that is unrefined into a polished one. This data is useful for the policy makers as they receive polished data to materialize their policies. This intelligence cycle works with the help of a six step process. This six step process includes: direction and planning, requirements, production and analysis, collection and last but not the least is the dissemination. All these processes are just a meaningful way of processing date into useful data so that the policy makers do not need to waste their time on processing data when making policies. This useful data is then used by different intelligence agencies to process their work accordingly.

Discussion

The intelligence cycle is referred to the fundamental cycle of intelligence that is processed in a military or civilian intelligence agency. It is also found in the enforcement of law as a closed and complex way including a number of repeated nodes. There are six significant phases of the intelligence cycle which include the requirements phase, planning and direction phase, collection phase, processing and exploitation phase, analysis and production phase and dissemination phase. The following discussion aims to identify the specific role of the significant phases involved in the intelligence phase.

Requirements Phase

The requirements phase is widely known as the phase for the identification of the information needs. It involves the identification of basic needs that would play a vital role ...